Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

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International Visitor Program

Future Leaders Connect to America

One often hears that success is a journey not a destination. The journey for two of today's world leaders included trips to the United States years ago as guests of the State Department's International Visitor (IV) Program. Gerhard Schroeder came to the United States in 1981 shortly after being elected to the Bundestag. On January 31, 2002, he returned as German Chancellor to meet with President Bush at the White House.

"Everyone in my age group...grew up with a certain amount of anti-Americanism," said Schroeder in a nationally televised interview with ARD-TV in January 2000. "Then I went there [the United States], because they offered a trip for "young political leaders" as it was then called. One got an opportunity to visit the country for four weeks. And if you are not completely pig-headed, this is one of the most intelligent ways of giving young politicians a positive attitude about America. That country just has an effect on you. And it is almost impossible to avoid that. It is enormously open, very hospitable."

Another recent IV Program alumnus visitor to the White House is Chairman of the Afghan Interim Authority Hamid Karzai (view picture), who participated in the program in 1987. He visited the United States many times over the past decade to win support for Afghanistan, and later for the anti-Taliban cause.

The State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administers the IV Program. Each year, 4,000 participants visit the United States to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and to experience America firsthand. The program for over 60 years has supported U.S. regional and global foreign policy objectives through carefully designed visits to the United States for current or future leaders from all over the world. These professionals-from government, politics, the media, and other fields-are nominated by U.S. embassies.

Other illustrious alumni of the International Visitor Program include President John Kufuor of Ghana; President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt; and Prime Minister Anthony Blair of the UK.

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